Not So Obvious: Context and the Apple Remote
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The proverbial ‘they’ are often heard to say that a hallmark of good design is that it’s obvious.
It’s hard to argue that understanding what something does should not be as immediate and easy as possible. There are exceptions, such as in games where exploration and challenge happen in part by decrypting the utility and purpose of the unfamiliar.
Embracing that maxim, however, can lead us to dismiss the reasoning behind a design choice when the need itself isn’t immediately obvious. I learned just that by taking a close look at the recent update to the Apple Remote and its puzzling addition of a Play/Pause button.
I didn’t need this remote: there are 3 of the first-generation remotes bundled with MacBooks kicking around my place already. But knowing that Apple doesn’t add buttons willy-nilly, I did need to understand why that Play/Pause button had been added, so off went my $19 and into my hand a svelte new remote.
The previous model used the primary Select button to fill the Play/Pause role with minimalist perfection. The new model retains that functionality, so the distinct Play/Pause button seemed even more superfluous in use than it did at first sight. My obsessive little puzzle deepened.
Context, Context, Context
It wasn’t until I was actually using the remote in the context that the extra button was added for that I realized why it was there.
The problem it solves is that the media navigation applications that the remote works with (AppleTV and FrontRow, specifically) use some very deep-nesting of hierarchical menus and modes. The approach is a tradeoff to achieve a 10-foot UI paradigm that media centres currently rely on. If video is playing, moving back to other menus just stops the video. If audio is playing, however, a person can navigate throughout most of the system without stopping the music (or podcast, audiobook, etc).
I’d run into this many times with the previous remote, where I wanted to pause the audio but had wandered far and away from the Now Playing interface. That Now Playing space is the only one where the primary select button on the older remote would pause playback instead of selecting something, and getting back to Now Playing could easily be five or more clicks. With the new remote it’s just one, no matter where in the interface I happen to end up during playback.
The experience has me thinking that the best kind of design obviousness is the one that surfaces only when it’s needed. The functional semantics of a control need to be easily understood, but we should also be willing to place those controls where they’ll be needed, even if that need isn’t obvious at first blush.
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Thanks for pointing this out. I wondered exactly the same thing when the new remote was revealed. Does holding down the pause button on an AppleTV bring up an overlay with a “Now Playing” link? If so, this button wasn’t really needed. I applaud Apple’s ongoing crusade to remove buttons but think that in the past year they’ve gone as far as they possible can (or should). Good to see them going the other way where the use case dictates.
The centre play/pause button brings up a contextual menu, but it’s scoped to the selected item and there’s not link to Now Playing. The new play/pause button only plays and pauses (it’s actually labelled while the central button has no label now). I think the central button could be called ‘default action’.
So true that it’s good to see they can add buttons while generally striving to remove them when they can.
Ah! I saw the pictures and never realized that the center unlabeled button was still a button, I thought the center button had just been moved down.
It all makes sense now!
My criticism of the new remote is more related to how it feels in my hand, especially in the dark (sorry for the quasi-dirty intro). With the old remote, I always knew when my thumb was on a rewind or fastforward button. With this new design, the tactile feedback is diminished to the point of being nearly invisible. It almost requires that I look at the remote to see if my thumb is placed correctly. If I have to wiggle my thumb back and forth in a half-centimeter sine wave to find out if I am on the button or not, then I would argue the design is definitely flawed. Perhaps it is a matter of familiarity… maybe in a couple more months, I will come to love this design. But for now, I have gone back to the admittedly uglier older model because it is much easier to use at 2am after a glass or two of wine.
In my experience, Robert, it only gets somewhat easier. Even stone sober and in good lighting my thumb slips and I select when I mean to push down. The ridge should definitely be more pronounced to guide the thumb.
I tried as the article described in Front Row, and the behaviour doesn’t seem the same. When music is playing and I navigate back up the menu system, pressing either the center button, or the new dedicated pause/play button, both of them navigate into the selected menu rather than the dedicated button affecting the background music. Is it possible that what you’re describing is only working on the new AppleTV?
I just have the old Apple TV, Greg, so it could be that what you’re seeing is peculiar to Front Row. And that is surprising, it should react to the Play/Pause button as expected given the unambiguous nature of Play/Pause!
I’ve been wondering this from day one, and you seem to have solved the mystery. Very well thought out indeed. Why they removed the magnet though is beyond me – I wish it could still sit attached to the face of my iMac.
I like the addition of the Pause/Play as well. But can someone explain to me why a MENU button is needed? Shouldn’t the LEFT button be the appropriate nav device to get back to menu? Is the sometimes-shortcut back through a couple of levels really worth another button? Especially when many other remotes simply use the left as back/back/back/etc. Does the MENU button significantly justify its existence?
The left button has a really strong position as the rewind button during playback, which is hard for a lot of people to live without or to re-map to a different metaphor from the horizontal timeline. The AppleTV UI designers have also used horizontal movement in a few places like the home screen banner area and as a way to change how tv shows are sorted, so they’d be even more hard pressed to repurpose the left button.
I think the menu button earns its keep. It provides this single consistent action much like the dedicated Play/Pause button. It’s a good anchor action that people never have to second guess before pressing it, which helps make the product nicer to use.
Thanks Todd. Well justified. I forgot about rewind being so key to the ATV experience. The other remotes I was thinking of all have dedicated rewind/fast forward buttons (as well as dozens of other buttons) so they don’t need to use the back as rewind.
The war on buttons suffers a setback.
How long until even the remote is a dedicated iOS touch-screen device?
(yeah, Remote App, blah blah, but seriously)
Since it’s an input device at heart, maybe the buttons will all disappear for something like a handheld magic tradpack (in current or similar remote proportions). Apple is starting to make gesture input a staple across iOS and Mac OS, Apple TV shouldn’t be any exception.
That’s a nice new feature. Unfortunately it does’nt work for me and my Alu remote.
In Front Row I enter the Music menu and start a track (with select or play/pause button). But, as soon as I am leaving the Music section to view photos, e.g., the music stops.
Any special settings? Of course, my Mac is on the latest OS and iTunes.
I tried this on Front Row as well and it seems the Play/Pause button isn’t supported in the same way. Maybe it’ll be updated; the newer Mac Minis and their HDMI output point to Front Row being in living rooms for some time to come, so why not.